Chelsea Parsons

Vice President, Gun Violence Prevention

Chelsea Parsons is the vice president of Gun Violence Prevention at American Progress. Her work focuses on advocating for progressive laws and policies relating to gun violence prevention and the criminal justice system at the federal, state, and local levels. In this role, she has helped develop measures to strengthen gun laws and reduce gun violence that have been included in federal and state legislation and as part of the president’s January 2016 executive action announcement on gun violence prevention.

Prior to joining American Progress, she was general counsel to the New York City criminal justice coordinator, a role in which she helped develop and implement criminal justice initiatives and legislation in areas including human trafficking, sexual assault, family violence, firearms, identity theft, indigent defense, and justice system improvements. She previously served as an assistant New York state attorney general and a staff attorney law clerk for the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

Parsons is recognized as a national expert on gun laws and policy and has appeared on CNN, MSNBC, and NPR. She has been cited in publications including USA Today, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, the Los Angeles Times, and The Economist.

She is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College and Brooklyn Law School. She currently lives in northern Virginia with her husband and two sons.